When the Neighbors are the Dealbreaker Prospective Buyer: “We love the house. But we could never live across the street from that pornographic statue.” Phil Dunphy: “Oh . . . huh . . . I never noticed it.” Prospective Buyer: “Yeah . . . you can see it from inside when you look out the...Read More
Square Pegs into Round Irregular Holes The input field on MLS for room sizes asks for two numbers: the room’s width and its length. Which works great if a room is rectangular. But what if it’s not? If the room has a dormer, is L-shaped, curved, or otherwise defies a standard “width x length” measurement,...Read More
Conspicuously Missing: The “I-Want-To-Meet-My-Interior Decorator” Showing Once upon a time, Buyers’ agents who wanted to get their clients into a “For Sale” home simply logged onto MLS; selected the home they wanted to show and the requested time and date; and clicked “submit.” No more. Now, MLS has a pull-down menu (above) listing no fewer than nine types...Read More
The Art of Comp Selection One of the trickier home features to account for in a Comparative Market Analysis (“CMA”) is a busy street. For a family with little kids, a busy street may very well be a deal breaker ” in which case the discount is theoretically infinite. At the other extreme, an investor looking...Read More
More People Living ” & Working ” by the Lakes? “You Betcha!” Once upon a time, on an especially nice weekday in Summer, the traffic heading east to Lake Calhoun would back up a couple blocks during rush hour. No more. Now, it’s practically year-round, in both directions ” at least any time the windchill...Read More
What Realtors Routinely Get Wrong; or, “How Come There’s No Such Thing as a 2-Season Porch??” If Realtors routinely confuse the various types of porches . . . I don’t know what chance a layman has. Perhaps that’s why, as a public service for Twin Cities Realtors, the local MLS has a post describing the...Read More
